Kids
by flowergazing
Summary: The road to self-discovery was supposed to be a philosophical and serious experience. Roxas found it within friends, bad decisions, failed relationships, procrastination, fights with his best friend, and a dog named Pluto. All while attempting to make the best of what was left of his high school years. Akuroku main, side pairings.
1. Salad Days

**Author's Note: **So I haven't written any type of fanfiction since I was about 14, back in 2009. Even then, I don't believe I was a very good writer. I only meant to try writing one-shots, but some content for this story was just eating at my brain so I'm attempting at a multi-chaptered fic. It should be a relatively simple plot, but I hope to bring interesting relationships and characterization.

Long author's note, sorry. Reviews, flames, criticism, compliments, anything is welcome! Feel free to ask me to review your own story also, I'd be happy to!

**Warning: **If it wasn't clear, there WILL be shounen-ai in this fic. Also, expect underage drinking, recreational drug use, etc. Rating may go up.

* * *

_**Salad Days / Mac Demarco**_

_Wake me up, before you go-go! Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo!_

Puffy cerulean eyes shot open and shot the buzzing phone a look that could very well melt it. Roxas hissed not only because summer was over and he was back to waking up at seven in the morning, but because his standard alarm was suddenly changed into some obnoxious song. There was no doubt that either Hayner or Sora had something to do with this, and Roxas mentally swore vengeance as he reached out to his phone and shut off the alarm. Gripping his phone tighter than necessary, Roxas growled at the fact that his first thought as a junior was bodily harm over whoever thought it was funny to wake him up in such a way.

After grumbling incoherent curses on his way to the bathroom and almost falling asleep in the shower, Roxas was ready half an hour later. Putting on a Sublime shirt and dark cargo pants, Roxas headed downstairs and was prepared for a quiet morning with some food ready on the table. As he walked into the kitchen, his guesses were only half true. It was indeed quiet, but there was no food on the table. Eggs, cereal boxes, and the orange juice were all placed on the counter besides the fridge but nothing was opened. On the kitchen table sat his older brother, mom, and dad.

"Uh?" Roxas asked, raising a brow at the weird scene.

His parents were both facing his brother, and no one was saying a word. Cloud's brows were furrowed in thought while Ventus had his arms crossed and Tifa had a forced smile on.

After a few moments of the weird silence and staring contests against Ventus, someone finally noticed Roxas.

"Oh, morning Roxy!" Tifa exclaimed, shooting out of her seat to begin breakfast.

"What's going on?" Roxas asked, after waving weakly to his mom. At this, Cloud and Ventus finally looked at him and the blonde soon realized that Cloud didn't look happy. Cloud never looked happy, but those who knew him well could tell when he _really_ wasn't happy.

After turning on the stove, Tifa turned back to her younger son. "Roxas, Ven has some…exciting news." Nothing about her tone sounded excited.

Once Ventus realized that Tifa had turned to him expectantly, did the older blonde shoot his younger brother a weak smile. "I'm moving out." Despite his discomfort, Ventus really did seem happy about moving out, apparently.

Roxas leaned against the fridge and ignored the way his dad was brooding. "Oh yeah?" Ventus was 21, so moving out wasn't that big of a deal. Why was there so much tension then?

"Mmh," Ventus nodded, attempting to ignore his father's glare by unnecessarily moving random objects around the table. "Vanitas and I found an apartment to live in together."

Oh.

_Oh._

At first, Roxas didn't know if his confusion was due to the fact that he was up at seven in the morning after waking up at noon all summer. Yet, now everything made perfect sense.

At the mention of Vanitas' name, Cloud looked about ready to shoot off into an angry rant only to close his mouth shut after sensing Tifa's glare. Roxas would've laughed at the whole thing if only Ventus didn't look so sad all of a sudden, probably realizing that his parents weren't as happy as he was. Then again, Ventus was always a little too happy, or so Roxas thought.

Ventus had been dating Sora's older brother for a while already, but Cloud and Tifa never really got around to fully trusting Vanitas. Yet, Vanitas never went around to making himself seem like a trustworthy person, quite the opposite actually. Absolutely no one understood how someone as happy, friendly, and outgoing as Ventus could possibly be with someone like Vanitas who was almost infamous for being rude, arrogant, and cruel. Despite everything, Ventus seemed very happy in his relationship and Vanitas actually seemed pleased with being with someone who not only treated him better than most people but was also not afraid to keep him in line.

Even though Cloud and Tifa were close friends with Leon and Yuffie, they could never get around to fully trusting Vanitas and his intentions. Their oldest son was level-headed when he wanted to be, and a good kid (too good, in Roxas' opinion) but he was a little too trusting.

The smell of fried bacon wafted through the air, and Roxas realized that a discussion had been going on.

"Is this about getting away for some _alone time_?" Tifa was saying, paying minimal attention to the bacon frying. Cloud pinched the bridge of his nose and Ventus slowly began to look horrified. "Because if that's it, Cloud and I will be happy to give you guys more _privacy_ so you two can—"

Roxas didn't hear the rest of it because he quickly grabbed his board by the couch in the living room and ran out the door.

**x x x**

"At least Ven had the decency to tell your parents," Sora was saying, shrugging nonchalantly. "Van said he's just gonna pack his things and get out once the whole thing is finalized and let mom and dad 'figure it out'. And that he'll kick my ass if I tell them." The brunette made little air quotes with his fingers and a bad impersonation of his older brother.

Hayner choked on his pizza slice upon hearing the impersonation and Roxas briefly glanced to see Pence slapping on the blonde's back harshly. Olette was giggling at the whole thing and junior year was pretty weird so far.

Roxas caught up with Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Sora (it wasn't really catching up because he spent most of his summer with them), and having some meaningful talks (Hayner was complaining about how the tree beside them was trimmed and their spot no longer had shade), until Sora spotted Riku and Kairi coming out of the cafeteria with food in hand.

"See ya!" Sora shouted over his shoulder, almost dropping his pizza out of excitement as he bounced over to his friends across the grassy quad.

Once Sora was gone, the four friends looked over their schedules to see if they had any more classes together. They all had at least one of them in a class and Roxas groaned internally when he saw Hayner was in his gym class. Hayner was that guy who got a little _too_ competitive for it being a high school class.

"So there's a party this Friday," Hayner grinned, gulping down his chocolate milk.

At this, Pence raised a brow. "Already?" He asked as he fiddled around with his camera lens.

"Yeah, let's go? We need a break from school anyways!"

Roxas, who had been quiet as usual, couldn't help but chuckle at Hayner's excitement. "We just go back from not doing shit for three months."

Even though Roxas was amused at his friend, Olette took it as Roxas automatically siding with her tendency to be an overachiever as a student. She nodded enthusiastically. "Roxas is right, Hayner. You can't go partying when we'll probably have homework by then!"

"Um, I didn't say—"

"Look," Hayner cut off Roxas with a dismissive hand. "This is the year before we worry about college and all that crap. This is our last chance to ignore responsibilities!" Random students began to cheer at the statement and one kid went as far as to grab his backpack (which seemed to signify education or something) and chuck it across the quad.

Roxas and Pence were doubled over with laughter, Hayner was grinning in triumph, and Olette's groan was muted as the lunch bell rang.

**x x x**

Having gym class with Hayner was as bad as Roxas had thought. It was probably even worse, actually. The first day back was meant to "take it easy" as their teacher had said, yet Hayner took the whole thing as an Olympic event. Hayner was a complete alpha male, which Roxas usually doesn't mind (ignores) and everything would've been fine until it turned out that Seifer Almasy was also in their class.

Even though there were girls in the class, Roxas felt like he was choking on the amount of testosterone that was going on in that gym class. After thinking of the many ways in which he could kill himself inside the gym, Roxas briefly considered joining cross country with Sora and Riku.

Fifth period was uneventful, and Roxas looked at his phone after class (where he'd taken a picture of his schedule) and began a leisurely walk towards the last class of the day. The first day so far was a little weird, yet uneventful. Roxas cynically thought that junior year would probably be boring and unexciting as the rest of his school years and didn't get to sigh dramatically because he was suddenly a hundred plus pounds heavier.

"Roxas! Roxas!" Of _course_ it was Hayner who suddenly latched onto his back, causing a scene.

Roxas sputtered-choked in response.

Hayner ignored his friend's pain and got off, running over to face him with a horrified look on his face. "Dude," He urged, placing his hands on Roxas' shoulders and shaking lightly. "I heard they're having searches in Building G for sixth period!"

After rubbing his sore neck, Roxas scowled at Hayner. "Already? Wait, who cares?" There was a mental clock in Roxas' mind telling him that he was going to be late to class soon.

Hayner didn't seem to be listening to anything, though. Without warning, he pulled out a small baggie with noticeable contents inside. Roxas' eyes bulged out like saucers. "I'm in Building G next period!" Hayner exclaimed, scowling at those who stared at them even though he was the one bringing attention to himself. "I need you to hide this until afterschool." He urged, pushing the baggie towards Roxas' chest. The confused blonde began sputtering again.

"What? No!"

"Roxas, come on!"

"Why do you even have this right now?" Roxas hissed, narrowing his eyes at Hayner. Hayner simply shrugged sheepishly and smiled weakly, which made Roxas want to punch his throat.

"Are you gonna hide it or not?" Hayner suddenly snapped, which was a little unreasonable. Roxas almost wanted to deny him just to get back at him but the warning bell rang and there really wasn't time.

"Fine," Roxas grumbled, sticking the baggie into one of the pockets of his cargo pants. Before running off to class, Roxas swung his fist back and punched Hayner in the shoulder.

"What the fuck?!" Hayner exclaimed, looking like a kicked puppy.

"I _don't _want wake up before I go-go." Roxas hissed with a deadly glare. The last thing he heard before running off to class was Hayner cackling.

Roxas made it to class with one second to spare, literally. The final bell rang at the exact moment that he ran in. Briefly glancing over the class, the only empty seat was one beside the door. The tables weren't for a single person, but for two. The art or theater classes always had a weird layout so Roxas shrugged and sat down, putting his board under the table.

"Roxas?" The blonde turned and saw who was sitting next to him. A small, petite blonde was giving him an amused smile at his flushed face from running. She giggled at Roxas' attempt to slow down his breathing.

The girls pretty blue eyes seemed familiar and Roxas racked his brain trying to figure out where he's seen them. "Oh! Namine, right?" The girl nodded and before Roxas could say something else, the teacher began to talk.

Their art teacher turned out to be a sweet old lady who was a slight pushover with a maniacal yet endearing laugh. Like most first day assignments, she handed out a "get to know your partner" sheet. The sheet had some weird questions such as hopes and dreams and favorite hobbies. It sounded like a dating site more than anything, which Namine found silly. Roxas agreed and they had their own discussion as a way to get to know each other.

When the bell rang, Roxas actually learned things about the cute blonde. She liked to draw (hence why she chose the class), Radiohead was her favorite band, her twin sister (Kairi) was her best friend, she was obsessed with memory games as a kid, and she prefers to go to the park at night than in the day.

Roxas wanted to keep on talking to Namine, but she meekly told him that she had cheerleading practice after school. So Roxas offered to walk her to the gym, and Namine agreed immediately.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay Roxas?" She smiled, pulling on the strap of her duffel bag with the school logo.

Atfer the two went separate ways, his phone buzzed into his pocket.

**Hayner**: _Got detention for being late. Go on without me __. _

Roxas shrugged and headed over to the school gates. Once he was no longer in school property, he hopped on his board and skated over to a liquor store to buy an apple and then walked over to the donut shop right beside it and grabbed a plastic spoon.

The walk from Radiant Garden High to the train station wasn't that far, but Roxas decided to take the scenic (discreet) route. Hayner was a pain in the ass during gym and almost made him late all in one day, so Roxas didn't feel bad about carving a piece out of the apple and smoking some of Hayner's weed.

When Roxas got to the train station, he threw the apple in the trash and slumped down onto one of the benches to wait for his train. Twilight Town could basically be considered a part of Radiant Garden since the two were only a very short train ride away, but no one questioned this. Twilight Town had quiet neighborhoods, small shops, and was an overall sleepy town while Radiant Garden was the busy city in which housed everything. The local schools, universities, malls, and more was there.

It actually wasn't bad, and the commute from Twilight Town to Radiant Garden was short. Roxas often found the train ride relaxing, especially in his current state of mind. Three trains went by until Roxas finally realized he was supposed to be getting on one of them. He grinned lazily as he stepped into the open train doors.

**x x x**

Right after stepping into his house, Roxas immediately set his board in its usual crook and headed over to the kitchen. After making a grilled cheese sandwich and ignoring the questionable noises coming from Ven's room, Roxas decided his junior year might not be so bad.

* * *

I didn't mean to make the first chapter so short (I prefer 3,000-5,000 words per chapter) but I'm still figuring out how this story will play out so here it is. Some feedback will be GREATLY appreciated! BTW, anyone know how to get the accent mark in Namine's name?


	2. Enter Sandman

**Author's Note: **Thank you to anyone who is reading this! I tend to have trouble with the first chapters/introducing stage so bear with me. I'd appreciate any review that could help me better it, it is for you guys after all! Tell me what you like, don't like, or what you'd like to see. There are so many things I'd like to incorporate into this story and I'm trying to get through the beginning chapters.

**xTheLostEdenx:** Thank you for reviewing! I was honestly so happy when I got the alert and your overall review. The whole Ventus/Tifa/Cloud thing will be a very minor and short conflict. I was honestly thinking of having a scene where Yuffie invites the Strifes for dinner and the whole moving out thing comes out (because Vanitas was planning on just leaving without a word). Anyways, thanks for reviewing, I'd like to hear from you again!

* * *

_**Enter Sandman / Metallica **_

The rest of the week was uneventful, or so Roxas thought it was. On Wednesday, he was on his way to get some pizza afterschool with Hayner and Olette (even though they had pizza at lunch, but you could never have too much pizza when you're sixteen), when they decided to find a shortcut to the hole in the wall pizza parlor that they often went to. Taking a turn from Market Street, they went through a small alley and ended up in a completely different block.

Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette knew Twilight Town so well by the time they were in middle school, but Radiant Garden was a different story. The city was large and even if they went through the whole city, it would take a long time to really memorize where everything was and only so few actually knew the large city well. This small business-like street was different and Olette was ready to keep on walking when she turned back to see Roxas and Hayner frozen in spot, facing the entrance to a courthouse.

"Hayner, no fucking way!"

"Man, how have we _not_ seen this before?!"

Olette raised a brow and turned towards the building. She didn't see anything unique or particular about it. It was a standard brick building with tall windows, a large white pristine door and big, wide, stairs leading up to it.

"Okay, what's going on?" She attempted to ask, but failed to capture the two blondes' attention. Hayner was bouncing in place out of excitement while Roxas was walking closer to the stairs.

"Six, seven, eight, nine…" The blonde murmured then grinning back to Hayner. "Nine stairs! C'mon we gotta skate this soon."

A dramatic sigh escaped Olette's lips. Of_ course_ this was skating related. The four of them had very different interests, despite how close they were. Olette was into volunteering in the city (she was currently volunteering at the hospital), Pence was into his photography, Hayner was into skating and boxing (or struggle matches), and Roxas was also into skating and attempting to learn how to play more on his guitar. Even so, they were as close as ever even if they could never really get the others' interest. Like how a set of stairs was beneficial to skating. She rolled her eyes as Hayner began to jump around and make plans with Roxas about when they'd come back. Roxas was nodding along and talking animatedly, and it reminded Olette of two girls talking about their school crushes.

Holding back laughter, she walked over to the two boys and grabbed their wrists to drag them along. It was no surprise that they didn't notice and kept on talking about the tricks (skate trick names were always weird for Olette, words like "nose" shouldn't be involved?) they could do over nine stairs.

Olette spent most of that afternoon trying to shut the two blondes up by stuffing their faces with pizza. Hayner then began to complain about having homework already and Olette went into mother hen/nerd mode. After that, she completely forgot to mention to Roxas how Namine had told her that she thought he was really cute.

**x x x**

On Friday, Roxas was taking his time in dropping off Namine at the school gym. Every day after that first day, he'd walk her to the gym for her cheerleading practice, and she'd give him a cute smile before departing. That smile was something to look forward to, Roxas thought embarrassingly, and realized that he'd be going two whole days without seeing Namine and her pretty blue eyes.

"So what're you doing today, Roxas?" Namine smiled, swinging her arms around slightly. Roxas had the bag over one shoulder and his board tucked under the other arm. The blonde began to hold her duffel bag for her since Wednesday. If Tifa had been around to see it, she'd be cooing over the whole damn thing and Cloud would be smirking at Roxas' expense.

Roxas blushed when he noticed that Namine was gazing up at him expectantly. "Oh," He choked out slightly, irrationally getting mad at his mom for intruding his thoughts. "I'm skating with Hayner. The other day we found these stairs and nine stairs is pretty cool cause with five it's too lame and fourteen is…" He trailed off, looking down at the blonde girl beside him. Her head was tilted slightly, curiously. It was obvious that she was confused. Rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, Roxas chuckled nervously. "Sorry, didn't mean to bore you or anything."

He jumped slightly when Namine suddenly laughed. She often giggled or chuckled, and now she was laughing? "Don't worry, Roxas! I'm glad you're talking more now." She smiled, placing a hand on his arms. The gym was now within eyesight, Roxas noticed sadly.

"Yeah?" He chuckled. "I get that a lot."

He focused on one of the many trees the school had, taking pride in the greenery that Radiant Garden was famous for. The light grip Namine had on his arm tightened slightly, as if to get his attention. He turned back and her lips were quirked up into a sweet smile.

"I like your voice, actually."

Wait, what?

Roxas stopped walking, hoping his face didn't look as dorky and shocked as he felt. Namine…liked his voice? He personally thought that he sounded like some boy pop star or something but if Namine liked it then…

Before he could make some type of response (his brain was shutting down because a cute girl just complimented him and Roxas was horribly shy, unlike his older brother) a familiar figure ran up to him.

"Nams! Rox!" The two blondes turned to see Sora jog up to him, in his track pants. He was holding a water container with the Nike logo on it. Typical.

When Roxas turned to his best friend, he found Sora wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Roxas smirked and looked him over. "Nice pants, loser."

Sora flushed and shoved a laughing Roxas back. "Hey Nam, you still up for the party tonight?" Namine nodded and softly thanked Roxas back as he handed her the duffel bag back. "What about you, you coming Rox?" Sora asked.

The blonde in question groaned. "Nope," He muttered. "I have work tonight, I close."

"That's too bad, it would've been nice to see you," Namine pouted.

Roxas tried not to blush because Sora would no doubt make fun of him for the whole school year over it. Luckily, Sora didn't notice and began to brighten considerably. "I got it! You and Rox should come with Riku, Kai, and I on Saturday! We don't know what we're doing, but we're doing something. Come with us!" He beamed, sending Roxas a "subtle" wink that looked like a bad twitch caused by some horrible eye infection.

Namine was taken aback by Sora's sudden excitement. Roxas narrowed his eyes at the brunette for being so obvious.

"That's a great idea!" Kairi exclaimed, running over to them in her cheerleader uniform. Roxas suddenly got the feeling that this was all planned or something. "It'd be so fun, _right_ Nam?" Namine was now glaring at her twin. Roxas managed to catch one of Kairi's very own bad winks.

Sora and Kairi began to plan things out while Roxas mumbled an apology to Namine in the background. Namine giggled and stated that she understood what he went through in having an overly social best friend.

When the two girls finally went inside the gym, Roxas shoved an overly smug Sora.

He was now spending time with Namine that weekend.

**x x x**

"Fuck, that was awesome!" Hayner exclaimed, panting and out of breath.

Roxas scowled up at him, shoving his bleeding arm in his friends face. "You think _this_ is awesome?!" He exclaimed. Hayner was unfazed at the large bleeding gash on Roxas' arm.

It should've been expected, but Hayner grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Hell yeah, that looks pretty cool. Namine's gonna wet herself when she sees that tomorrow."

"Dick," Roxas laughed, shoving Hayner. "I can't believe we outran the cops, now _that_ was pretty cool."

An old woman who was passing by snootily, grimaced at the blood dripping down from Roxas' arm and their overall sweaty appearance. Roxas stuck his tongue out at her, resisting the urge to give her the finger.

As promised, Hayner and Roxas went back to the courthouse with the amazing steps and skated it. The building was so big that they were sure that they wouldn't be noticed, and they weren't. Not for an hour at least. When someone from inside noticed that Roxas almost hurt a man who was walking by when he skidded down the asphalt in a failed trick attempt, the cops were called and came immediately. The cops came quickly, and Roxas never got the chance to attend to his wound. He and Hayner quickly grabbed their boards and began to skate out of the area with the cops trailing behind them. Only a few blocks ago did they manage to lose them.

"Don't you have work right now?" Hayner laughed, looking in the direction of Roxas' job which was within eye distance.

Looking back at the small café, Roxas groaned. "Yeah, in like ten minutes," He cursed internally. "We have this new temp manager, too. What an impression I'm gonna make when I go in…" He mumbled, looking at the gash that was absolutely disgusting.

"That courthouse was worth it, man." Hayner grinned, looking down at his own pants which were dirty and slightly ripped.

Once again, Roxas looked down at his bleeding arm. He smirked and looked up at his blonde friend. "Hell yeah, let's go back next week."

Hayner's loud bark of laughter attracted attention like usual.

"See you later man."

**x x x**

Roxas was standing beside the café, nervously contemplating. He tightened the grip on his board, and tried to peek inside, seeing nothing visible. He had known that Yuna would be leaving for some type of emergency and that there'd be a temporary manager covering for her. He also knew that he'd be meeting the new manager today, but Roxas opted to skate instead of caring about his well-being.

Since he was sixteen and still in highschool, he didn't work all that much compared to the older employees. He only worked Friday nights, and Saturday and Sunday mornings. Even so, he usually worked four to six hours so it wasn't all that bad. The money mostly went to food or new boards since his tended to snap very month.

When he finally walked inside, he absently walked through the shop and over the counter, automatically ignoring everything. He went inside the break room to put his skateboard and backpack away in its designated area, then looked over to the work schedule that was posted in the room. He groaned internally when he saw that Xion wouldn't be in today. Xion went to his school and was one of the only ones he liked from that job. Roxas glanced up at the clock and saw he had a good seven minutes to change clothes and clean his wound before clocking in. Maybe he could do it without anyone noticing…

"Whoa kid, you okay?" A deep voice asked.

Roxas turned around to look at the new person and had to do a double take. The guy was tall, lean, with broad shoulders and a handsomely structured face. His bright red hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and Roxas felt the guy looked a bit familiar.

The guy also did a double take when he noticed Roxas. "Whoa, Ven?" He asked, with wide bright green eyes.

"I'm not Ven!" Roxas shouted automatically, scowling up at the guy. People who knew Ventus often misrecognized Roxas as him and it became one of the younger blonde's pet peeves.

The guy smirked at Roxas' pouty reaction. "No need to scream," He laughed, shaking his head and inspecting Roxas carefully. "You're Ven's kid brother right?"

Was this guy trying to get on his bad side? "I'm not a kid," He huffed, crossing his arms. Big blue eyes narrowed to get a better look at the guy. "Are you Reno?"

The guy clicked his tongue and leaned against the doorframe. "Was comparing me to my idiot brother a form of revenge? You always were a mean kid, Roxas." He smirked.

Roxas blushed at the light insult and completely forgot about the wound on his arm. The guy looked at the clock and made way for Roxas to step out of the break room. "Better clean that up before you're late," He said, gesturing to Roxas' arm. "Wouldn't wanna be late on your first day under my shift, would you?"

It then occurred to Roxas that he had just yelled at his new manager. Groaning, he made his way to the bathroom.

**x x x**

Working with Axel was much more different than Roxas was expecting. He vaguely remembers Axel from when he'd come over as a kid to play with Ventus and Axel was always very wild, reckless, and a bit of a troublemaker. The Axel that Roxas worked with that Friday night was a good leader, laid back, witty, and almost serious.

There was a sudden rush around 8:30 which was a half hour before closing, so at that point there were only three of them working. Normally, Yuna would have the place a mess and kind of make it through. Paine, another manager, would snap at the employees under the stress. Axel worked quickly, kept things clean, and kept his cool while everyone freaked out over having tons of orders and being understaffed. By the time they closed, Axel sent the last person home and had Roxas clean the tables and mop the floor while he counted the registers (a responsibilities the rest of the managers dumped on the employees) and took inventory.

"You're…different," Roxas mused, moving the chairs for better space to mop. "I don't remember much about you since I was little, but you weren't, well," He gestured his hands vaguely in Axel's direction. "Like this?" He ended lamely.

The redhead raised and amused brow and smirked at Roxas. Placing the clipboard down, he leaned back against a counter. "It's called growing up, kid." When Roxas rolled his eyes playfully, Axel gave him a small smile. "Nah, that's just me as a manager. Spend more time with me, and you could see if I'm the same or not."

Roxas grinned.

**x x x**

As the two prepared to get things ready for the morning people, Roxas asked how Axel ended up as a manager. Apparently, Axel had started off at a part time job in high school, like Roxas. By his senior year he was promoted to manager and it apparently came easy to him. His store manager suggested that he get his Associates in business management as something to fall back on or a steady job while he worked on whatever he really wanted to do. So Axel did that. When Axel heard from a friend that Yuna would be needing someone to cover her for a month, the redhead took it as a good opportunity to head back home and finish his bachelors, especially since things weren't going well with him in Traverse Town (where he was studying). The redheads mood darkened as he mentioned that part and Roxas wanted to pry out of curiosity but chose not to.

The whole thing stressed Roxas out about what he'd want to do with his own life and cringed at the thought. Axel laughed at the reaction and gave a hard pat to the blonde's back. "Don't think too hard, it'll come to you."

As they finished up, Axel turned to Roxas. "Hey, does Ven still live with you?" He asked, closing up the manager's office.

Roxas was putting on his jacket and had to pause in thought. "I don't think so," He murmured. "I mean he's moving out but he's still at the house right now." The whole Ventus moving in with Vanitas situation was becoming a bit of a bother. Ventus and their parents often had a really good relationship but that week was filled with tension between them. Roxas never thought that they disapproved Vanitas that much.

"So you mind if I come with you?" Axel asked, suddenly at Roxas' side. "I ran into him a while back and he gave me his number. Never got to call him cause my phone caught on fire." He chuckled.

"How?" Roxas asked, giving the redhead a strange look.

"Don't worry about it," Axel smirked darkly. "So, what do ya say, Roxas?"

Roxas looked past the café entrance and gazed at the black Toyota Corolla parked outside. "Sure," he shrugged. "Beats taking the train at this hour."

**x x x**

Music was very important to Roxas. The music that people listened to kind of determined how well he'd get along with the person, in his opinion. Sora introduced Roxas to Led Zeppelin and Hayner introduced him to NOFX. Sometimes Roxas believes that that's the reason those two are his best friends. So the blonde didn't know what to think when Axel turned his car on and hear a Metallica song ending only to have Slayer begin playing.

Axel had pulled out a cigarette and began to curse when he looked over his pockets then various compartments and came empty-handed. Knowing the signs, Roxas dug into his pocket and pulled out a black lighter and held it in front of the redhead.

After skeptically looking at the small bic lighter, Axel shrugged and sucked in a breath as Roxas lit it for him. "You smoke?" He asked lazily, focusing on the road.

"Not cigarettes," Roxas smirked.

Pulling the cigarette out of his mouth, Axel let out a loud laugh. "Oh man, I miss high school."

As _Kill Again_ by Slayer began to pick up, Roxas leaned back into the seat as Axel slowly picked up speed. Roxas looked over and saw he was going 90 miles per hour and grinned as the redhead began banging his head to the song. As the two thrashed around to the song and speed, Roxas felt that maybe the redhead hadn't changed all that much.

**x x x**

"You totally fucking elbowed me in the face," Roxas laughed as he stepped out of the car. Lightly placing his fingers on his cheek, yep it stung a bit.

Axel walked around the car and over to him. "No way," He chuckled, leaning down to Roxas' face to inspect it. Grabbing the kids face, he tilted it towards his own to get a better look from the moonlight. Sure enough, there was a small red mark on his cheekbone. "Whoa, sorry Roxas."

The blonde shrugged and grabbed his board. "It's not a big deal," He said as he walked over to his front door. "I crowd surfed at this show once and got thrown into my first mosh pit. I got punched everywhere and it was pretty awesome."

Since he was turning the key into the lock, Roxas missed the way Axel's green eyes lit up. "You're pretty cool, Roxas." As a kid, Axel spent most of his time with Saix, Ventus, Demyx or other kids his age. He only saw the younger blonde a handful of times when he'd go over the Strife house. Roxas was a pouty crybaby who had mean tendencies. Honestly, Axel had found the kid kind of annoying. The Roxas he met tonight was much better company and a pretty cute kid. The skater punk thing really worked for him.

Roxas didn't get to reply though. As the blonde opened the front door, he was met with a cringe worthy sight. From the front door, he got a clear view of the kitchen table. On said table was Ventus with Vanitas on top of him, currently buried in the blonde's neck.

"What the fuck Ven!"

The older blonde whipped his head off, knocking the dark haired male off of him. "I thought you were at that party with Sora!" He yelled.

Blue eyes trailed down his older brother and Roxas grimaced as he noticed that the button on Ventus' pants was unbuttoned. "I had work." He mumbled, feeling his shoulders slump at the horror he walked into.

"Uh well—Axel?"

Roxas glanced back and sure enough, Axel was now beside him. The redhead leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. "Hey Ven, hey Van," He smirked with an amused look in his eyes.

Vanitas straightened up and strode confidently over to the two at the door. "Told you I'd get into his pants," the raven smirked as he held out his hand.

After seeing such a scene, Roxas avoided eye contact with Vanitas. He managed to catch Axel reached into his pocket and slapping the raven's hand with a twenty dollar bill.

**x x x**

That Saturday morning turned out to be pretty slow, so Roxas, Xion, and the other employees were prepared to lounge around and do nothing. When it'd be slow, Yuna or Paine would just shut themselves out in the managers office and the rest would stand around and talk. With Axel, he had them all do "detail cleaning" such as cleaning walls, cabinet shelves, and overall random things that tend to be overlooked.

Even so, Axel stayed out front with them and did his own cleaning and also helped around with the orders that they did have. He was an impressive manager so far and was fine with them all talking, as long as they were doing something.

"Hey Xion," Roxas called out from cleaning one of the door handles (which was a weird thing to clean). The dark haired girl hummed in response as she cleaned the straw container. "You wanna do something with Sora and them later?"

The blonde turned to the girl for a response so he managed to catch the light blush on her face. "Um, I can't…I have this dog party to go to."

Wait, what? Even Axel, who was cleaning the counter turned to her curiously.

"A…dog party?" Roxas asked, wondering if maybe he misheard her.

Xion nodded and fiddled with the cloth in her hand. "Yeah, this lady that I met at the dog park invited Pluto and I to her dog's birthday party," She murmured. Her pale face was red now.

It took a lot for Roxas to hold in his laughter, but a few sputtering chuckles escaped his lips. Axel smiled and looked over at the short girl. "You have a dog?" Xion nodded, still flushed at the cheeks. "What's he look like?" The redhead asked curiously.

After that, Xion went into dog owner mode and pulled out her phone to show Axel her many pictures of Pluto. Axel went from looking curious to completely overwhelmed by all the pictures Xion was showing him all while talking a mile a minute about her dog.

Roxas had one more hour of an easy day at work and he was seeing Namine later on. The first week wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

I'm hoping to improve my writing as this story goes along, so any thoughts on how things are going will be greatly appreciated!


	3. Entertainment

**Author's Note: **I'm hoping to improve my writing as this story goes along. Any feedback is appreciated, like always. Roxas goes out on a "friend date" and dinner with the Leonharts doesn't go so well thanks to Vanitas.

**Warning: **excessive use of parenthesis (i'm not sorry)

* * *

_**Entertainment / Phoenix **_

Back when Sora was more of a family friend, Roxas recalled that the brunette and Riku were inseparable before Kairi moved to Radiant Garden. Sora, being the friendly kid that he is, wanted to talk to her when she did move in. He had said that she deserved to make friends and didn't want her to be lonely. Riku had apparently scoffed at the idea and stated that being friends with a girl was lame. He then preached about how a girl would only slow them down and want to do boring things. No one was sure how but the three ended up becoming best friends. Kairi even rebutted all of Riku's girl logic when she'd compete against him in races and wrestling matches and even won at times.

The point was that they've always been good friends. The relationship between the three might've stayed platonic if only hormones hadn't begun to whirl around inside them whispering evil wants like kissing and all that stuff parents try to keep you away from. The dynamic between the three had changed very subtly, and it centered around a sixteen year old brunette.

"Damn, I need to study," Sora murmured thoughtfully and frowned as he fiddled around with the buzzer the restaurant provided for him. They were at a burger joint in Radiant Garden that was well known for its buzzers that would flash red and buzz when a customer's order would be ready. Supposedly, it even gave an old lady a heart attack once. Rai, the typical football player with a pea-sized brain, claimed to have been there but no one really believed him.

From the corner of his eye, Roxas saw Kairi open her mouth to respond to the brunette, but was interrupted by Riku. "I'll come over tomorrow and we'll study then," He said lazily, sipping at his milkshake. Kairi was convinced that Riku's milkshake arrived first because the girl at the counter had a thing for him; she had giggled a little _too_ loudly when Riku ordered.

"Alright."

Pretending to look at the salt shaker, Roxas caught the wine-red haired girl glancing at the two boys then gazing out the window thoughtfully. As he glanced back down to his phone which rested on the table, Roxas saw that Namine also witnessed it. As two pairs of blue eyes glanced at each other, Namine gave him a soft smile. Her straw-blonde hair was going over her right shoulder as usual, but tonight it looked curlier? Her lips were a darker shade of pink compared to how he'd seen at school, too. Nice, very nice. Kairi shifted slightly, her blue eyes still gazing out the window. Oh right, the weird love triangle.

Things with Sora, Riku, and Kairi have been a little weird lately, so Roxas was glad that Namine was there to even things out. To be caught in the crossfire of a weird love triangle was something Roxas didn't want to go through alone. Especially when the love triangle was between a tight knit circle (or triangle, really) of friends.

Roxas remembered back in freshmen year when Sora had an awkward crush on Kairi (awkward as in it came out of nowhere and no one knew how to react to it). Back then, Sora was too shy to do anything about it and Kairi was too busy getting used to being in cheer to notice at all. Riku used to tease him about it but now _he_ was the one crushing on the brunette. To those who didn't know the three closely, nothing would seem out of place besides a platonic friendship. Only those who've been around Riku for years would notice how he'd nonchalantly jump at the chance to spend time with Sora.

It honestly looked like Kairi and Riku were currently competing for Sora, who was oblivious (no surprise), yet Sora was currently taking an interest in Riku. Or so it looked like it, because no two guys agree to study together on a Sunday. Roxas tried asking Hayner to study for their first set of finals in freshmen year and Hayner smacked him. His excuse for smacking Roxas was "for saying such horrible things" and "finals are a test on instinct, so don't study and just figure out how much you actually know on the day of the test" which was typical Hayner logic.

Looking back, Roxas vaguely realized that he had gotten stoned and attempted to study on his own. Anyways, the blonde made a mental note to ask Sora if he was interested in Riku or not or if it was all a trick of the light.

Roxas was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Kairi jumping up from her seat from the corner of his eye. Holding a hand over her chest, Kairi glared at the square buzzer which was flashing a bright red and vibrating violently as she got up to get her order. The counter girl looked more smug than friendly, Kairi noted irritably.

When they all got their orders was when the weird subtle tension eased and they went into a conversation about all of the upcoming sports events. Their school provided a variety of sports teams and Riku was either in most of them at one point or the head coach wanted him on their team, no matter what it was. He was the typical star athlete who was also on the honor roll. Sora was following into his footsteps, even though the brunette only stuck to two sports and had a decent GPA but higher than most.

"I'm honestly making the most out of this weekend," Kairi was saying. She dipped a fry into the ketchup dip she created at the corner of her tray and took a small bite. "Starting next week we're gonna be working our asses off for the upcoming football games." She sighed, and gazed blankly at the wooden table as if looking into the future and seeing all she'll have to go through. "Can't wait to wear a skirt on cold nights and sit through long bus rides." She huffed as she popped another fry into her mouth.

Roxas, who had been quietly enjoying his burger, turned to the red haired girl. "Why don't you quit then?" He had no say in these athletic talks because he never once bothered to care for any type of school activity. He only went to a handful of football games and that was mostly to figure out where the after parties would be. Roxas and Hayner were anti-school events and opted to skate (or play guitar), Olette was more into the academic side of school and focused on after school hobbies, and Pence only cared for his photography class and was anti-school events along with Roxas and Hayner.

"Because it's fun, Roxas." Namine spoke up from across the booth. When she got his attention she waved her fork around (because she apparently ate her fries with a fork) while finding the right words. "It's tiring and brutal at times but at the end of the day there's no better feeling than the accomplishment. The 'we made it through the season' or simply 'we made it through this week' feeling."

Sora gave a hard clap. "That's exactly how sports are!" He exclaimed, shaking Riku's shoulder slightly. The silverette grunted at the sudden shaking and frowned when the motion made him drop his burger. The top sesame seed bun splayed out of place slightly, but the burger was fine besides that. Riku mentally sighed in relief. Sora went on, ignoring Riku's grumbling. "Blitzball season was so brutal last year, no lie. We were all pretty over it even though we were winning and everything but then once we played our last game, Wakka threw this awesome pizza party and gave this speech about—" The brunette paused. His hand was still on Riku's shoulder, even though he was no longer shaking the older male. Riku looked pleased at this and continued eating. "Well—I forgot what he said but it was pretty uplifting and he made us all turn off our alarms for weekend practice. It was pretty relieving and I ended up missing everything about game season and here I am, ready to do this again."

Kairi was nodding along in agreement throughout the whole thing, Namine was listening intently, Riku was happily finishing up his burger, and Roxas couldn't sympathize with his long rant-thing.

"Jocks," He muttered.

Kairi then smacked him upside the head, Sora leaned forward and punched his shoulder, Riku still wasn't paying attention, and Namine giggled.

**x x x**

Roxas had never been out on a date which was actually kind of sad. According to Tifa, Roxas had gone on his first date with Olette in freshmen year. It was true, sort of. Roxas and Olette pretended to go out on a date to fool their parents into letting them out late. Instead, the two met up with Hayner and Pence and the four attended their first highschool party. Roxas hadn't drank then, and was slightly scarred at the amount of hormones going around the crowded house. Shudder. Still, he hadn't been out on an actual date and he figured tonight probably didn't count. It obviously didn't considering the fact that Sora planned all of it and they were out as friends.

Even though he had officially known Namine for only a week, he wanted to try and ask her out eventually. He was going to take his time with it simply because he didn't want to seem like a dork and he also had no idea how the blonde girl even felt about him. Yeah she was sweet and tried to spend time with him, but maybe she was just a nice person. Sora and his eyebrows (which constantly wiggled suggestively) weren't helping. He could also go without Kairi's bad winks. Even so, Namine was the first girl so far to really catch his attention (and she was a cheerleader, which was weird) so he wanted to make it right. Or something lame and cheesy. Luckily, Hayner couldn't read his mind and try to scrap with him for thinking "such things".

Roxas' jumbled thoughts were interrupted when he heard soft footsteps coming up behind him.

"I never learned how to swim," Namine said, kneeling down onto the sand beside Roxas. He was currently sitting down at the shore and wondering if a shark would pop out.

After eating, Riku drove them over to the beach and they set up a bonfire and roasted some s'mores (because Sora said it wouldn't be a bonfire without s'mores). The beach wasn't as deserted as Roxas had thought. Then again, it was a Saturday. A few groups of people littered around in various fires and a group of what looked like freshmen girls were cooing over Riku who was murmuring quietly to his two friends.

"Why not?" Roxas asked. He figured that twins would have many similar skills since parents often lumped lessons and hobbies on both without thought. Kairi loved swimming and would also go surfing with Sora, Roxas, Hayner, and Riku some summers.

Glancing over to the blonde girl, Roxas felt his face heat up slightly at the close proximity. Namine had her hands placed delicately on her lap, and she had a peaceful expression towards the ocean. The moonlight only made her look paler, but it made her skin glow and she was just the cutest girl he's met. He wondered why he never got around to talking to her before.

Tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, Namine's eyes lit up as a cloud passed and the full moon was completely in sight. "I was too scared," she chuckled. "The thought of the water holding me down only made me feel trapped. What feels comforting at first makes me feel trapped right after. It's hard to explain, but it made sense back then."

"I guess I kinda get what you mean," Roxas shrugged. "I mean I—oh shit a seal!"

Past the shore, but still too far from the two sitting down was a seal flapping around. If it hadn't been so quiet it might've gone unnoticed. Roxas stared in awe while Namine yelped. The blonde male turned to her quizzically while Namine covered her mouth in embarrassment.

"I thought it was—you know…_here_," Namine mumbled, covering her entire face. As Roxas began to snicker, the blonde girl buried her face in his shoulder. He decided to enjoy the close contact and ignore the catcalls from his best friend and Kairi coming from far behind. It was early September and the warmth from summer was lingering on even into the night. Even so, Roxas didn't mind the extra body heat snuggled up to him.

**x x x**

Sora and Kairi were either being obvious on purpose or accidentally embarrassing Roxas when it came to Namine. Both were pretty bad and Roxas began to think they were being obvious on purpose.

When Riku dropped off the twins, Sora basically pushed him out of the car to "walk them to the door" and "them" should've meant both Namine and Kairi. Yet once the three were out of the car, Kairi all but fast walked over to the front door and slammed it shut before the two blondes could even register what happened. Roxas turned back to see Sora gazing expectantly from the corner of his eye. As he narrowed his eyes at the brunette, Sora faux-innocently began to whistle and turned up the volume to _Fearless_ by Pink Floyd.

"Um," Namine stammered, looking over to the front door quizzically. Roxas took a step forward and the blonde girl followed his lead over to the large mahogany door. The two girls lived at the very heart of Radiant Garden—at the Wise mansion. Kairi and Namine were the adopted daughters of the mayor, Dr. Ansem Wise. As the two walked quietly, Roxas paled as he realized that he'd have to meet Ansem eventually if he wanted to pursue any type of relationship with Namine.

He must've gulped dramatically or something because Namine turned to him once they walked over to the door. "You okay?" She asked, placing her hand lightly on his arm. Roxas nodded stiffly and tried to focus on the colorful flowers that littered the well-kept garden.

"Yeah—I'm just—Sora's an idiot and I'm just trying to process that," he chuckled nervously. He was only half-joking. Sora was an idiot for busting all this shit but he wasn't contemplating that. He had learned long ago what a dork his best friend was. At the moment, he was currently realizing just how quickly his curiosity for Namine turned into a full on crush…in only a week.

He was lost in his thoughts (like always, it seemed these days) that he managed to catch Namine nodding along sympathetically. "Yeah, Kairi is pretty weird when she wants to be," She sighed. "I also blame Sora."

Before Roxas could even reply, Namine nervously tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and interrupted whatever he was going to say. "Roxas," She began, quickly. "I'm glad I got to officially meet you this week. I—I hope I can get to know you better soon." She breathed. She hadn't meant to interrupt him but she knew that if she didn't get that out now, she'd never get the guts to say it.

Close contact with a girl was so new to Roxas that his brain shut down once again. He settled for a shy smile. "Yeah—me too," He smiled weakly, rubbing the back of his head nervously. Placing his hand on her shoulder, his smile became more genuine. "Goodnight Namine."

On the ride home, Riku and Sora were laughing at the whole thing. Riku began to tease Roxas and called him a pussy for not making a move when he had the chance. The blonde smirked and sent the silverette a knowing look, nodding off to Sora who was burying his hands in his face to try and control his laughter. Riku's face went from looking like a taunting bully to a lovesick puppy in half a second. Sora could only wonder why Riku suddenly stopped with the "Roxas is a pansy" jokes so suddenly.

**x x x**

Having dinner with the Leonharts was mostly Yuffie and Tifa talking more so than anything else. When asked a question, Cloud and Leon would just grunt and continue eating. Roxas noticed he and Vanitas were inheriting that trait from their fathers.

"Roxas, are you enjoying school so far?"

"Hn."

It was honestly a little unsettling, Roxas thought. He glanced over to his father who was currently frowning while chewing his food. Cloud was a serious man who only spoke more than a few words to his close friends. That was honestly how Roxas was becoming. Shudder. Leon was just as quiet but a bit more open with his emotions and all that. Glancing at the Leonhart brothers, it seemed like Vanitas inherited the quiet part while Sora obviously had the compassionate trait and his mother's exuberance.

As he drowned out the chatter going on around him, Roxas leaned forward to grab more steak for himself. His mom only made the _really_ good steak when there was company over and he decided to take advantage of it. Ventus beside him was being his usual charismatic self and Sora was adding his own charming lines along with it. Sometimes it seemed like those two should've been the brothers. He looked over to Vanitas and caught his golden gaze. The raven rolled his eyes _I hate it when they all talk too much. _Roxas smirked and elbowed Ventus to stop talking, _me too._ In rare moments like those, Roxas got along with the older Leonhart simply because the two dreaded the constant questions being sent their way. The two also shared the desire to try and get their brothers to stop talking.

Roxas' natural instinct caught a change in subject (even if he hadn't been listening at all) and managed to hear his mother speak up to properly address Yuffie and Leon.

"Has Vanitas showed you the apartment yet?" She asked while taking a sip of her lemonade. "Ven refuses to show us anything until everything is settled." She rolled her eyes playfully.

It was a little weird how the entire Leonhart family suddenly went quiet. Eerily quiet, even though Leon and Vanitas weren't talking to begin with. The air stilled and it was like the moment before the deadly showdown. The moment where the two enemy parties contemplate the life they are about the give up. Or some dramatic silence like that.

"What are you talking about?" Yuffie asked. It looked like she had an idea what Tifa could be talking about only she didn't want it to be true.

Vanitas didn't look calm and collected like usual. He looked only slightly apprehensive, which was actually a big deal. Sora, beside him looked like he was about to see the epic fight scene in a movie. His hands were itching for some popcorn to nibble on.

"That Ven and Vanitas are moving out," Tifa stated uneasily. Cloud was finally looking up from his food and watching the scene unfold.

And oh, did the scene unfold.

Leon's stormy grey eyes narrowed over at his oldest son, Yuffie looked completely surprised, Vanitas scowled, and Sora was biting his lip to conceal his grin.

"Were you planning on telling us?" Yuffie and Leon asked in unison. While Yuffie sounded hurt, Leon sounded absolutely livid.

Tifa and Cloud were frowning at the raven. It was things like this that made them uneasy about Ven's relationship.

"I was gonna let you guys figure it out," Vanitas shrugged, scowling at everyone in the room.

Before Leon could completely explode, Ventus cut in. "Why didn't you tell them?" He asked curiously, almost cautiously. When Ventus spoke in that cautious way it meant that he was trying to keep his emotions (usually angry ones) in check.

"Cause it's not a big deal," was the apathetic reply.

Yuffie balled up her napkin and threw it at her son. Leon pinched the bridge of his nose. Sora made a choked snorting sound.

Ventus was never really upset. He was very easygoing, friendly, and kind. That's not to say that he's a pushover, not at all. Even though Roxas was the short-tempered one, Ventus was just as vicious when he finally got angry.

"It's not a big deal?" Ventus scoffed. His blue eyes were narrowed into slits and Vanitas crossed his arms defiantly.

"That's not what I meant, idiot." He spat.

"Don't talk to him like that!" Yuffie and Cloud snapped at the same time.

It was clear that Vanitas was only digging a deeper grave for himself the more he talked (this was probably why he chose to stay quiet). Meanwhile, Sora was having trouble containing himself and began to make a noise that sounded like sputtering choking laughter.

"Shut up, brat!" Vanitas barked over to his younger brother.

"Watch your mouth." Leon stated in that calm-pissed off way he somehow perfected.

It looked like Sora was about to tackle his brother into the ground and start a full out brawl, so Roxas jumped out of his seat and dragged Sora upstairs. He caught his mother mouthing a thanks as the drama unfolded downstairs.

"Serves him right," Sora scoffed as he landed on Roxas' bed. "I would've kicked his ass too." He grinned, folding his arms behind his head and staring up at the ceiling.

On good days, Sora would tell Roxas that he's grateful for Vanitas toughening him up as a kid. He'd say that that was the reason that he could handle a violent sport like blitzball and a competitive sport like cross country. It was probably true considering the fact that in sophomore year Sora knocked out a football player for trying to grope Kairi.

The two stayed like that for a while as the murmurs downstairs got louder. After the two agreed that they should've grabbed some of that steak, Sora pulled out his textbooks from his backpack and began to finish up his homework. Roxas decided to play some Black Flag while he read a chapter for his English class and realized Sora was pretty cool for not complaining about the music being too much for homework like others have (cough cough, Olette).

After finishing up the chapter, a mental reminder rang inside the blonde's head. It was probably his natural instinct kicking up again telling him to procrastinate.

"Hey Sora."

"Hm,"

"You uh," Roxas paused and wondered how to word it. "You like Riku?" Might as well be blunt about it.

At this, Sora sat up and looked up from the textbook. He looked mildly surprised for a second before shrugging and continuing to write something down. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Is it weird?" Roxas asked, setting his book down.

Sensing a conversation, Sora closed the textbook. "Cause he's a guy?" Roxas nodded. "I mean…yeah. I've never liked…a guy before." He shrugged, only a bit uncomfortable.

Roxas thought this over. If it wasn't for Ventus, Roxas didn't know how he'd react to someone close to him being into guys. When Ventus came out, he didn't talk to his older brother for a couple of days while he thought about how it'd affect him or why he should even care. In the end, he realized that sexuality didn't make a difference and realized he didn't care who someone liked. The only reason this was so odd was because it was Sora and Riku. It'd be like him and Hayner or something…

How does a person suddenly like someone who's been with them for most of their lives? Does it happen suddenly or gradually over time? Looking over to Sora, he saw that the brunette looked a slightly confused about the whole thing himself. It was one thing to consider it hypothetically, but to experience it first-hand must be something else. It then occurred to Roxas if Sora knew that Riku probably felt the same or the tug-o-war that was going on over him. Looking at Sora, who was thoughtfully staring at the bed sheets, it was easy to tell he was too busy worrying over all the conflicting emotions to notice anything.

No one was sure when, but eventually Vanitas drove off (by sound of his engine) and Ventus' voice was missing from the murmur downstairs so it was a safe guess the two left who knows where together. Soon after, Yuffie called Sora down and the Leonhart family apologized for what happened that night. Cloud grunted (as usual) and Tifa waved the whole thing off and hoped they worked it out.

The best way to sum up the rest of that Sunday night is: math homework doesn't look so appealing when there's a pretty blonde cheerleader texting you full into the night.


	4. Buzzbomb

_**Buzzbomb / Dead Kennedys**_

As the weeks went on, the summer fully ended and the chill that was evident in the mornings descended into the afternoons and nights. The various trees and flowers that littered the city which gave it its name began to wilt all over as autumn began. The petals and leaves of assorted colors constantly blew throughout the city like a colorful air show and Roxas sighed as he looked out the window. The beautiful weather was almost mocking him because he was stuck inside the café working into the early evening and so he missed out on a perfect day to procrastinate, skate, or hang out with friends.

Roxas didn't work on weekdays but someone didn't show up and so Axel called Roxas during the middle of lunch and asked if he could come in after school. Honestly, if it had been some other manager, Roxas would've firmly said no without any guilt. So Hayner, Pence, and Olette were surprised when he actually accepted. Axel was a cool guy and it felt more like doing a favor for a friend rather than doing something for your manager. Axel at work and outside of work were pretty different, yet Roxas still got along well with the redhead.

He was a pretty strict manager but was fair and organized. The only time he had lost his cool was when a snooty woman began to yell at Roxas because she claimed that she couldn't concentrate since the music the café played was "too loud". A complaint like that had been unheard of and Roxas didn't know how to respond to it (he really wanted to tell her she's stupid). After a while of dealing of the woman's yelling, Roxas was getting irritated but stayed silent because he knew he'd tell her off harshly if he even so opened his mouth. He didn't need that type of thing to happen at work.

At that point, Axel showed up and calmly told her to relax. The woman had been getting irritated with Roxas' lack of response and whirled around to the redhead and began to yell about "the shitty incompetent employees" and "he's just standing there like a dumbass". Roxas jumped when he heard Axel bark at her to be quiet.

"I could very well have you arrested for verbally abusing a minor," He snarled. His bright green eyes were narrowed into dangerous slits. "So it's best for you to just get _out_. I'm _not_ dealing with your crap and neither is he."

Axel's normally smooth voice took on a growl at that point and the woman looked stricken as she left the place quietly. The redhead looked tense and animalistic, like someone who could very well break you into pieces if you were to cross him. Roxas turned to him and tilted his head curiously. "Is the yelling at a minor thing even a real law?"

Like the flip of a switch, Axel's anger dissolved at the question and he gave the blonde a warm smile before bursting into laughter. "Honestly? I have no freaking clue, kid."

Thinking back to that incident which happened in the middle of September, Roxas walked over to the counter where Axel was finishing up a phone call with Yuna.

"I kinda wish you'd stay permanently," Roxas stated. The rush had just ended and one of the cashiers was currently on break. Axel decided he'd take any orders while Roxas cleaned the tables (where as Yuna or Paine would go back into the office and leave whoever to deal with it themselves)

"Yeah?" Axel smirked, tapping an incoherent beat with the tips of his fingers against the register.

Roxas nodded. "None of us ever realized how crappy Yuna and Paine were until you showed up," He said. Whenever he would close with Axel, the redhead would give him a ride home and Roxas found an appreciation for Slayer because of it.

Looking over to the door to make sure no one had come in, Axel chuckled at the blonde's statement. Roxas was a really cute kid who seemed like a normal irresponsible high school student, and he probably was. Every Sunday the blonde would groan about all the homework he'd be cramming later that night because he procrastinated all weekend. While that itself was pretty adorable, Roxas would suddenly say something insightful like talking about past lives or the future. Ignoring the age difference (this kid was in _high school_), Axel realized he was becoming attracted to the blonde kid. He knew he shouldn't be getting so close to someone he was attracted to, especially because Roxas seemed pretty forbidden for many reasons, yet the kid's company was too enjoyable.

"That's not a very nice thing to say, Rox." the redhead teased. Roxas chuckled as he began to fiddle with the wash cloth in his hand. "Listen, when Paine comes in you can clock out and I'll take you home. As a thanks for coming in, alright?"

Still fiddling with the white cloth, Roxas smiled and nodded. "Yeah okay." Even though he couldn't see the smile fully, Axel's green eyes gazed down at the blonde boy adoringly.

As promised, Roxas clocked out once Paine came in. He stayed true to his word simply because he didn't want to be around Paine and her bad mood. He told Axel this on the way to the black Corolla and the redhead laughed knowingly.

As the car started up, Roxas plugged the aux cord into his phone. _Tangerine_ by Led Zeppelin began to play and Axel hummed appreciatively.

Looking out into the darkened sky, Roxas began to murmur along to the song. "I can play this on the guitar," He said conversationally. He began to absently rub his slightly calloused fingers together.

"Yeah? You gotta show me sometime." Axel replied. He actually didn't know Roxas could even play the guitar and the thought was endearing. The kid probably had some endearing look while playing, but okay steer away from those thoughts!

The blonde quietly listened to the song for a few more seconds before replying. "It feels like I'm never gonna see you after this." Roxas murmured, hoping he didn't sound lame or something. Axel was intersting and the music filled car rides home really brought them closer compared to his other coworkers, besides Xion. Axel had also given her rides home when he closed with her but Xion didn't grow her own appreciation for Slayer.

Axel chuckled and tried not to look too giddy at the comment. Roxas probably meant it platonically, but he couldn't help but feel happy that the kid would miss him. "We'll see each other, don't you worry kid."

The two fell into a comfortable silence until _Religious Vomit_ by Dead Kennedys began to play. Roxas' knee began to bounce in rhythm with the song as he bobbed his head slightly. The motion reminded Axel of another blonde in his life who very much liked the same band and that's when he realized something.

"You know," Axel began, lowering the volume slightly. "A couple of my friends are in a band and they're doing a Dead Kennedys tribute show this Saturday. You up for it?" He drawled, and looked over to the blonde beside him.

Roxas' blue eyes were widened and he had the biggest grin on his face. "No way! Of course I'll fucking go, that sounds so cool!" As the blonde began to bounce and go into a ramble about how awesome that sounds, Axel's heart fluttered at the fact that he'd be seeing Roxas outside of work.

**x x x**

"Axel? Reno's brother?" Tifa asked with a small frown on her face. Roxas decided that asking to go out while his parents were watching tv was the safest option. The two looked pretty relaxed so Roxas came into the living room during a commercial and asked if he could go out with Axel tonight. Solid foolproof plan, according to Hayner.

While Tifa stayed thinking, Cloud crossed his arms. "I'm not sure that's the best idea," He stated with his usual frown. "If he's anything like his brother…I don't think I'd trust him around my son."

Roxas began to sputter in panic. Axel was actually _waiting_ outside for him, since the show was _tonight_ and _in an hour_. Maybe he _shouldn't_ have listened to Hayner who suggested asking right when he was supposed to be out as opposed to asking days before. _"If you ask days before they might change their mind,"_ his friend had said. The logic made so much sense then but then Roxas realized he had been stoned then so maybe stoned logic shouldn't have been taken so seriously. Roxas rolled his eyes at the memory and almost didn't hear what his mom was saying.

"I mean, I think Rude's kept them in line pretty well," Tifa mused, mostly to Cloud. The two were now standing up before their son while their movie continued on in the background. Roxas had no idea who the hell Rude was, but he nodded in agreement. "Elena too, actually. I doubt Reno would go back to his old ways with a girl like her. Besides, Axel was your temp manager right?" She turned to Roxas with a soft smile on her face. She had that look that said she's agreeing to help Roxas because Cloud is too strict sometimes. Roxas and Ventus knew that looked, clung to that look, and completely used it to their advantage.

"Yeah mom," Roxas smiled and nodded a bit too enthusiastically, secretly thanking her. "He's really responsible, we're just gonna see some of his friends preform and support, y'know?" This was true, actually. They really were going to support, but all the in between didn't have to be discussed.

Cloud sighed after having Tifa and Roxas stare at him expectantly. "Fine," he murmured, rubbing his forehead. "When are you going?" As if on cue, Axel honked outside.

"Right now!" Roxas grinned and all but sprinted and flung himself out the door. The last he saw was his dad's surprised face (for once) and sputtering. Maybe Hayner was right. He didn't give his dad a chance to change his mind since he basically flew out the house and jumped into the car.

As he threw himself into the backseat, he wasn't prepared for what he got into. The car was a haze of smoke, cigarette and weed mixed together in the small black corolla. Al Green's voice echoed throughout the car as the occupants did their own thing.

"_I…I'm so in love with you_," Axel sang soulfully with a cigarette resting in between his fingers. "_Whatever you want to do…is all right with meeee,_" The redhead had mentioned being into soul and oldies, and Roxas was seeing just how_ into_ it Axel really was. The other two occupants in the car seemed unfazed by this and found Roxas' presence much more interesting.

While Axel sang (not seeming to notice Roxas or anyone at all) the green eyed blonde girl beside him turned to him and gave him an obvious once over. "You're Ven's kid brother?" It sounded more like some type of mocking accusation rather than a question. "Are you even in high school?" She sneered.

Roxas crossed his arms and stared her down. "I'm sixteen," He stated. He didn't expect the blonde girl to suddenly burst out laughing into a shrill giggle fit. Axel finally snapped out of his singing and seemed to notice Roxas for the first time.

"Nice Axel, nice," She snickered. "Going after jailbait was a real smooth move." She smirked in between sputtering giggles. While Roxas leaned away from her, the lilac haired male in the passenger seat turned around to give Roxas his own once over. Unlike the blonde's, his once over was an observant and polite one.

While Axel turned around and snarled at the blonde and called her a bitch, the lilac haired male extended a hand out to the blonde. "I'm Zexion," he stated. Roxas found it kind of awkward since Zexion had to twist around in order to give a handshake. "Nice to meet you." At least he was polite and calm, unlike the blonde who was still giggling along. She didn't seem fazed at all as Axel kept calling her a bitch and other questionable things. Only Roxas didn't notice that the redhead had a slight blush.

"Yeah yeah, I'm a bitch. Tell me something I _don't_ know," the blonde shrugged. Axel rolled his eyes. "What I was trying to say is that Castle Oblivion is a club. How's the kid gonna get in, dumbass?"

A silence descended upon the small car as realization began to dawn upon Axel and Roxas. While Roxas crossed his arms in thought, Axel turned around and slammed his forehead against the steering wheel which caused it to honk loudly. The three flinched at the sound but Axel didn't seem to notice it.

"Stupid, stupid," He muttered. Larxene simply nodded in agreement.

"We all know you're stupid," The blonde girl agreed calmly, with that same teasing smirk on her face. The hazy car was silent except for the sound of Al Green's voice continuing on.

While Roxas looked out the window and stared at his mother's garden, Axel was mumbling to himself against the steering wheel. As Larxene continued to smoke her blunt, Zexion couldn't help but flinch when Axel suddenly sprang up and reached for his phone that rested inside the cupholder.

Roxas eyed the redhead curiously and listened intently as he held the phone against his ear and waited for whoever to pick up.

"Hello?" Axel asked cautiously. "Didn't expect you to answer, where is he? Huh, I'm actually not surprised. Well, I need you to do me a favor…what? The fuck, how much? Fine, I'll be there in a few, bye." Without saying anything, Axel started the car and sped off into some random direction.

**x x x**

"Why are we at Ven's apartment?" Roxas asked as he got out of the car. Larxene lounged back nonchalantly and Zexion opened up a book, telling Roxas they were sitting this out. It was almost amusing how the two seemed used to sudden changes in their plans happening. Axel's life seemed pretty spontaneous despite the redhead's laidback, aloof, and almost serious demeanor.

"We're here to negotiate," was Axel's vague answer as he shut the car door behind him. The two began to walk up the stairs into the large brick apartment building. Roxas shrugged and decided that he'll find out soon enough why they were there and how it'll get him into the club on time. As they strode across the air conditioned lobby, Axel checked something on his phone before going into the elevator and choosing the floor. The man at the counter didn't bother looking up from his magazine to acknowledge the newcomers.

Axel briefly glanced at Roxas as they stood inside the elevator (which had actual elevator music!). The blonde was currently reading something on his phone and caught something that looked like a fond smile before he typed away on the touchscreen. Ignoring the weird feeling in his stomach, Axel looked away from the blonde and focused on the small numbers that would light up slowly, indicating which floor they were on. On the fifth floor, Axel lazily backhanded the blonde's arm to get his attention and stepped out with Roxas following him uncertainly.

The two walked through the bright lit hallway (Roxas noted the apartment was actually much nicer than he expected) and Axel soon stopped before a door with a bold 17 in the center. The young blonde shifted his weight from his left leg to his right as Axel lazily knocked on the floor.

A couple of seconds later, the door flung open to reveal a bored looking Vanitas.

"Alright Red, what do you want?" The raven demanded, crossing his arms and speaking in that blank tone he favored. As Axel crossed his arms (ooo, hardcore negotiation tactics) Roxas peered beside the redhead for any sign of his brother.

Axel saw Roxas moving around beside him but didn't dare break eye contact with Vanitas because his wallet was in jeopardy. "We're trying to get to Oblivion but lil 'ol me forgot that we're harboring a minor tonight."

As the redhead explained the situation, Roxas only half-listened and attempted to inspect the apartment. It seemed pretty bare, with only essential furniture. There were currently little to no decorations on the white walls except for a Sublime poster and a small movie poster. The kitchen was too far away so he could only make out what looked like an island so the blonde shifted his focus to the living room. They had a decent sized TV, a coffee table that looked straight out of a thrift store, and a nice looking navy suede couch. On said suede couch was Ventus who seemed to be sleeping. _Typical Ventus taking a nap._

"—wakes up so—hey! Control your brat or I'm raising it to sixty dollars." Vanitas snapped, rolling his eyes at Roxas who was squirming around while trying to get a look of the place. Leave it to Vanitas to leave his company at the door and not offer them to go inside.

Wait, sixty dollars for what?

Roxas turned up to ask Axel but almost leaned back at the look on the redheads face. His eyes narrowed dangerously and a deviant smirk crept up his lips. "Cool it, Vanitas. You're giving a sixteen year old his older brother's ID so he can sneak into a club. If Ven finds out we're _all _screwed, and I got no problem dragging you down with us so watch your mouth there." At this, Vanitas' mouth became a thin line as he accepted the statement. Roxas resisted the urge to make a whipping sound, so he did it in his mind.

"Fine, forty dollars then." Vanitas stated, no longer looking amused at the situation. So Axel's plan was to use, well _steal,_ Ventus' ID and have Roxas use that for the night since the two Strife brothers were basically identical. The fact that the redhead would actually pay with his own money to make it happen was pretty cool. Forty dollars seemed like too much though, so Roxas slapped Axel's hand to stop him as he began to open his wallet.

It was only Vanitas who caught the pink tint that rose on the redhead's face at the sudden contact. Roxas meanwhile, simply stared at the raven with his own deviant smirk. "Last year I saved your ass when you forgot to get Ven a birthday present and you said you owe me," Vanitas' amber eyes narrowed at the small blonde. Roxas crossed his arms and lifted his chin daringly. "Thirty dollars and we're even." The two held a staring contest for a couple of minutes before Vanitas grumbled a string of curses and stomped away to grab the older Strife's wallet.

**x x x**

"I'm high," Roxas chuckled. The four were currently in the fast moving line to the club where the show was being held at. Music could be heard from inside the small venue along with cheers coming from those who were already inside.

Axel looked down at Roxas who was beside him and nudged him. "No, you're Ventus," he stated matter-of-factly. The blonde looked completely confused at the statement for a second before the realization sunk in that he was using his brother's ID. Upon the realization, the young blonde began to laugh to himself.

Behind them, Larxene flicked the redhead. "This kid is actually pretty fucking hilarious. Sneaking into a club baked out of his fucking mind _and_ he's got a major attitude." At this, Roxas turned back looking a mix of offended and confused. Larxene smirked and ruffled his hair. "You're living life, kid. Welcome to the circle."

Roxas had no idea what Larxene had just said, having spaced out after a while but decided the hair ruffle was a good sign. He simply grinned and dramatically presented his ID to the bouncer. After the bouncer blankly let Roxas in, the blonde basically ran into the club. Axel's lips quirked up in an affectionate smile at this.

"That kid is going to kill you," Zexion murmured so only Axel could hear. The redhead was currently chuckling at Roxas' antics and tried to pretend he didn't hear.

He hadn't known the kid for too long but Roxas' presence was already becoming a necessity to Axel. He had thought that most teenagers were annoying pieces of shit, but Roxas was different somehow. He wasn't sure how exactly but maybe spending more time with the blonde would provide an answer. Zexion had a point though. Just noticing his interest in the kid made him realize that things may not end well but Axel had a penchant for making his life difficult.

**x x x**

"_Drinkin' beer in the hot sun  
I fought the law and I won  
I fought the law and I won!"_

Roxas threw his head back and downed the last of his many beers (which he smugly bought with the stolen ID) and moved further into the crowd. His ears had basically popped the moment the band began playing. As he bobbed his head along he also felt the buzz go throughout his body along with the strong vibrations in the floor caused by the loudness. Had he been sober he probably would've felt extremely claustrophobic from the small room and large crowd.

Zexion was still over at the bar (his form of support was simply being there), Larxene was finishing up her mixed drink as she stared longingly at the thrashing crowd, and Axel had disappeared long ago into said crowd. The band, the Organization, had introduced themselves at the beginning of the show but Roxas was sure he'd forgotten all their names already.

"You'll meet them when the show's over," Axel had said back when they were still at the bar waiting. "We always go to this awesome shitty diner after their gigs."

The fleeting thought was soon wiped from the blonde's mind as he was pushed further into the crowd. By now, he was getting to the middle of the surprisingly large crowd and all his senses were being overtaken by the sensation of the music. His vision was nothing but a mass of bodies thrashing around and screaming along while the band seemed to be getting louder by the second.

"_It's a holiday in Cambodia  
It's tough, kid, but it's life!  
It's a holiday in Cambodia  
Don't forget to pack a wife!"_

The lead singer, a shirtless blonde with a goatee and British accent seemed to be encouraging the aggressive yet enthusiastic crowd.

As _Holiday in Cambodia_ ended and _Lie Detector_ began, Roxas stopped thrashing alone like everyone else had and threw himself against the guy in front of him. Starting a mosh pit was a scary risk because not everyone was into that (even when it's expected) and a fight could ensue. Instead, the guy that Roxas hit cheered loudly and tackled someone to his side. Someone from behind pushed him and he eagerly pushed back. In seconds, everyone was thrashing against each other and banging their heads.

The smell of sweat and various punches, tackles, and pushes overtook Roxas for the entire song.

_'Til you're proven innocent these days  
No one's innocent these days!  
'Cause when you're innocent it just don't pay!"_

"FUCK YEAH!" The singer screamed into the microphone as the song ended. "The crowd was getting pretty fucking shy there for a sec." He chuckled. "This next one is for whoever had the balls to start the pit, FUCK SHIT UP EVERYONE!"

A roar of cheers followed this but was quickly drowned out as the band began to play once more. Roxas was screaming as well but his screams died down as he heard the familiar riff. They were fucking playing _Buzzbomb_ which was his all-time favorite Dead Kennedys song.

"_Buzzbomb Buzzbomb!  
Macho-mobile!  
The road's my slave!  
That's how I feel!"_

As the song began to pick up, a rush of excitement came over Roxas. "SOMEONE LIFT ME THE FUCK UP!" He slurred into the crowd. Without question, some tall bulky guy lifted the small blonde up and held him up with the palms of his hands. The crowd was quick to grab onto Roxas (he swore this was the best crowd ever) and carry him across towards the stage.

From above, Roxas noticed a couple of things. First, his arms had various forming bruises on them and he also felt some stinging pain on his face. Second, the band didn't falter even though they noticed the blonde crowd surfing towards them. The lead singer playfully flicked him off as Roxas was basically thrown onto the stage. He landed on his butt in front of the guitarist with the crazy weird hairstyle.

The sandy haired blonde didn't stop playing as he grinned down towards Roxas. "Hey man!" He shouted. "The name's Demyx and I'd totally shake your hand if I wasn't playing right now! You're so fucking awesome for crowd surfing, little thing like you!" The younger blonde felt disoriented and fuzzy but grinned lazily anyways.

The buzz, the noise, and the movement were still continuing around Roxas yet he could almost feel his adrenaline dying down. He probably looked like a dumbass just sitting there high and drunk on the stage as the band continued to play but he didn't really give a damn. He had worked that morning and went skating at the park with his friends afterwards so he was pretty drained.

So he did the most logical thing (for someone who was completely under the influence) he could think of. Roxas knocked out right there on the stage in front of everyone at a Dead Kennedys tribute show.

_Fuck the system,_ was the sixteen year olds cliché last thought as his head fell back onto the wooden floor of the stage, the vibrations buzzing throughout his body.

**x x x**

The strong smell of bacon and coffee was what woke Roxas up. Dry blue eyes blearily opened only to immediately shut due to the fluorescent lighting. The blonde groaned and stirred in the plastic booth (he had been leaning on someone and he had no idea who) and itched for a beer or _something_ to ease his dry mouth.

Roxas leaned over and crossed his arms on the table and buried his face into them. Beside him, a cheery voice spoke. "Looks like the champ is finally awake," It chuckled as it gave the blonde teen a hard slap on the back that was supposed to be encouraging or something. A variety of laughs could be heard around Roxas as he grunted at the slap.

Those first few moments upon awakening were groggy and absentminded. Yet, the laughter was what finally brought Roxas back down to the ground (also because he was still pretty high). Five minutes after waking up, he felt as if he was _really_ waking up. The young blonde lifted his head off the table just in time for the waitress to place his order (did he order while knocked out?) in front of him.

The confusion must have been apparent on his face (the entire band was sitting around the large booth) because Axel, who was across from him, chuckled. "I didn't know what you liked, so I ordered a basic meal for you." A "basic meal" was a plate of scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, and black coffee.

Roxas barely got to mumble out a confused thanks (he still was deeply confused and swore this was all some hallucination) before someone to his right spoke up. It was the guitarist, Demyx. "You made our night, kid." The sandy haired blonde laughed. "You have no idea how crazy the crowd got after you passed out!"

The rosy-haired bassist that was sitting beside Axel set his mug down and leaned over with an amused smirk. "People started taking pictures with you, all passed out on the stage." Roxas' eyes widened in disbelief and the man shook his head smugly and turned to Larxene. "Show him, babe."

Everyone but Roxas seemed unfazed at the blonde girl taking out a small wad of money out of her bra. She smirked and briefly counted it, taking out a couple of bills and handing them over across the table to an uneasy Roxas. "We started charging after a while, here's your share since you _were_ the star of the show."

The sixteen year old blonde was at a loss for words as he took the fifteen dollars that were handed to him. Demyx continued eating, the blonde singer was drowning his coffee in sugar, Zexion was grimacing at his salad, the bulky drummer and the pink haired guy were beginning to arm wrestle, and Larxene was still counting money with a devious smirk on her face.

"So," Axel murmured toward the blonde in the middle of everything. "You ready to meet everyone?" He asked with a smirk. The whole night didn't seem to make sense, so Roxas simply grinned.

**x x x**

It was bordering on midnight when Roxas suddenly realized (or remembered) that he wasn't in his early twenties like the rest of the people he had met that night. No, he wasn't even a legal adult. He was a sixteen year old with a _curfew._ He was a sixteen year old with a curfew surrounded by people who all live on their own. Way to feel like a baby.

They were all in the parking lot of the diner leaning against their cars (and large van which carried the band equipment) just talking. Just after a few hours of speaking to them, Roxas felt like he knew the band a bit better.

Luxord was a Port Royal native who had a hidden violent streak, used to be in some type of thief gang, and was addicted to some casino app on his phone.

Marluxia and Larxene were surprisingly high school sweethearts and Marluxia currently worked at the local flower shop with Xion's mother, Aerith. Even more surprisingly, Larxene was a nurse.

Somehow, Demyx was both lazy and energetic. He was laidback but also very active. He was a complete contradiction and easy to get along with. When the group would start talking about things that Roxas knew nothing about, it'd be Demyx who'd fill him in or simply include him in the conversations.

Lexaeus, the bulky drummer, worked in construction with his father. He was currently enrolled in an overwhelming amount of classes since he was studying to be some sort of engineer so he was the first of the group to leave early due to homework.

"Damn, my stomach hurts like a bitch," Demyx groaned. All the side conversations ended as the blonde held a hand over his stomach. "This happens every time I eat fake cheese." He mumbled out, shaking his head.

"Maybe you shou—wait. What do you mean 'fake cheese'?" Axel asked, thinking back to the burger Demyx had ate at the diner.

"Hey Ax," Roxas muttered out. He knew it was "rude" to just call to him while the two had a conversation but he had to get going soon. Before he could even clear his throat to speak louder, Demyx raised a blonde brow.

"That burger had processed cheese."

"Yeah, so?" Came Axel's confused response. Luxord, Maluxia, Larxene, and Zexion were now fully paying attention to the two.

Crossing his arms, Demyx shrugged nonchalantly. "Processed cheese isn't real cheese." He stated like it was the most logical statement.

While the others backtracked to see if they heard right, Axel froze before speaking rather loudly. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" He shouted. "Processed cheese_ is_ real cheese. It has milk!" He defended.

"Yeah, but it's processed. So it's not real cheese."

"Is this really happening?" Maluxia snorted, tightening his grip on Larxene's waist. "Are you two about to argue about cheese?"

"Even if it's processed, it's still real cheese." Zexion added simply.

Roxas couldn't wrap his high state of mind around this whole argument. He decided to try again. "Hey Ax—"

"Wait, it has weird preservatives and all that." Larxene began as she turned her head to face Zexion beside her. "So processed cheese isn't real cheese. You have to know that, Zex."

"THANK YOU!" Demyx waved his arms around in emphasis, facing Axel smugly.

"But why is this happening?" Marluxia asked, to no one apparently. Luxord seemed torn between the two opinions.

"No, that's bullshit!" Axel shouted at Demyx and Larxene. "CHEESE HAS MILK! If it's processed, who gives a fuck?! If it has milk _IT'S REAL CHEESE_!"

Larxene crossed her arms and Demyx stomped his foot. "But it's not cheese!"

That night, Roxas went past his curfew due to the argument getting heated between the older group. The next morning, Tifa and Cloud asked exactly why he went past his curfew last night. Roxas decided to be honest and told them about the argument that began between Axel and Demyx. After staying silent for a few seconds, Tifa finally spoke up.

"Well, he's right actually. Proccessed cheese isn't real cheese." She shrugged and continued to take out things from the plate cabinet. Roxas thought he was going to get grounded and that'd be the end of that.

Cloud looked up curiously and turned back to the dark haired woman. "If it has milk, then it's considered cheese. So it's real cheese."

No, no no no no no.

"Cloud," Tifa spoke seriously. She turned back to her husband with crossed arms. "It may have milk, but it's _not real cheese_!"

The two began to argue so heatedly that Tifa didn't speak to Cloud until dinnertime. Roxas couldn't even think back to what an awesome night he had because he was too busy banging his head against the table in hopes of erasing any memory of that damned cheese argument.

* * *

**Author's note:** Despite it's length, this chapter didn't want to be written at ALL. Feedback on this chapter would be GREATLY appreciated, please. Btw, that cheese argument is real within my group of friends. Whenever it comes up to a new person, they give their opinion and this argument is growing between people.


End file.
